Three lever valve with relief port

ABSTRACT

The valve includes a housing having an opening therethrough, a valve seat positioned about the opening and a valve disc positioned within the opening to engage the valve seat. The valve disc is operated through three levers which parallel move the valve disc from the valve seat initially and then rotate the disc through 90*. A relief port is positioned within the valve disc and a closure means for the relief port is connected to the central lever so that the relief port is opened prior to the opening of the valve disc.

United States Patent Finke et al.

[ THREE LEVER VALVE WITH RELIEF PORT 1 1 Apr. 16, 1974 PrimaryExaminerRobert G. Nilson Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Webb, Burden, Robinson& Webb [57] ABSTRACT The valve includes a housing having an openingtherethrough, a valve seat positioned about the opening and a valve discpositioned within the opening to engage the valve seat. The valve discis operated through three levers which parallel move the valve disc fromthe valve seat initially and then rotate the disc through 90. A reliefport is positioned within the valve disc 56 R f C't d 1 UNITE]; al 2: 5ZZ and a closure means for the relief port is connected to v the centrallever so that the relief port is opened prior 3,669,405 6/1972 Baum251/279 to the Opening of the Valve disc 3,023,774 3/1962 Schuller...251/298 X 3,658,293 4/1972 Gaebel...; 251/298 X 2 Claims, 15 DrawingFigures s a s e 1' l6 1.

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PATENTED APR 1 5 I974 SHEU 5 OF 6 PATENTEBAPR 16 I974 SHEEI S [If 6 v Qt THREE LEVER VALVE WITH RELIEF PORT BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Ourinvention is directed to valves and, more particularly, to three levervalves for gaseous media under high pressures.

Valves ranging in size up to 15 feet in diameter are used as control,shut-off or safety shut=offs for gaseous media under pressure oftenranging to 100 lbs/sq. inch. Such valves are required in blast furnacestoves where the air blast for the blast furnace passes through theheated stove countercurrent to the passage of the gas. Because of therestricted areas in which such valves are installed, it is desirable tohave as compact a structure as possible.

One such valve requires no superstructure and operates by means of threelevers, the central one of which is driven and connected to a valve discwhich cooperates with an appropriate seat in the valve body. Whenclosed, the valve disc is in a vertical position parallel to thelongitudinal axis of the valve body and aligned on the valve seat,thusly providing an absolute seal. A drive shaft is located outside ofthe valve body and at right angles to the longitudinal axis thereof.Initially the valve disc moves parallel from the valve seat and thenFIG. 12 is a section through a further embodied closure means for arelief port;

FIG. 13 shows the relief port of FIG. 12 open;

FIG. 14 shows the relief port of FIG. 12 in which the valve is open; and

FIG. 15 shows still a further embodiment of a relief port closure means.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The valve, generally designated10, includes a valve body 11 having an opening therethrough. An annularthrough the action of the control arms or end levers, v

the disc is rotated through 90 to the open position.

In applications such as blast furnace stoves, valves of this type mustoperate under differential pressures, thereby creating problems inopening. By-pass valve systems have been employed to equalize thepressure but, of course, such systems require additional space andsuperstructure and are thusly self-defeating where space requirementsare at a minimum. I

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Our invention provides a means of equalizingthe pressure on opposing sides of the main valve disc within theconfines of the valve itself. The relief port which equalizes thepressure is operable off of the drive mechanism of the valve and indeedis operated through the same main lever.

Our invention is a relief port built into the valve disc of a threelever valve in which the central lever operates both the valve disc andthe closure means for the relief port.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an elevation of our threelever valve;

FIG. 2 is a section taken along section lines Il-Il of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a section taken along section lines Ill-III of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a section showing the relief port closed;

FIG. 5 is a section showing the relief port open and the valve closed;

FIG. 6 is a section showing the valve open;

FIG. 7 is a section showing the relief port closed by a modified closuremeans;

FIG. 8 is a section showing the relief port of FIG. 7 openand the valveclosed;

FIG. 9 is a section showing the relief port of FIG. 7 in which the valveis open;

FIG. 10 is a section taken along section lines X-X of FIG. 7;

FIG. 11 is a section taken along section lines XI-XI of FIG. 7;

valve seat 13 is formed about the opening and accommodates a valve disc12. A valve operator 14 is positioned external of the'valve If). Thedrive shaft 33 from the valve operator is contained within valve shafthousing 15 and extends at right angles to the longitudinal axis of thevalve body 1 1. The valve disc 12 is operated by the valve operator 14through a central lever 16 which is keyed onto the shaft 33. End links17'are connected to the valve body through link mounts 18 and pins 31.These end links are connected at their distal end to the valve disc 12in a manner described hereinafter and the central lever 16 and the twoend links 17 form the control arms which determine the sweep of thevalve disc 12. The valve body 11 includes the standard annular flange 34which mounts to the carrier for the gaseous media, FIG. 1.

Our improvement is a relief port built into the valve disc 12 andoperable by the central lever 16 of the above explained three levervalve 10. Specifically, the valve disc 12 includes a relief port 20extending therethrough along the longitudinal axis of the valve body 11.The relief port 20 is shouldered so as to form a relief port valve seat32 which accommodates a relief disc 19. Relief disc 19 is welded to twospaced relief disc uprights 29 which accommodate the central lever 16.Central lever 16 pivotably mounts to relief disc uprights 29 through alever pin operable within a lever pin bushing 26, FIG. 2.

Spaced outwardly from the relief disc uprights 29 are If two stanchionswelded to the valve disc 12.

Mounted through aligned openings in eachv stanchion 35 are guide pins 27retained by guide pin bushing 28 and link pins 22 retained by link pinbushings 23. The link pins 22 also extend through a bushing 21 in theend links 17 to thereby pivotably mount the end link to the stanchion35. Link pins 22 are retained in place by retainer washers 24, FIG. 2. I

Each relief disc upright 29 includes a blind slot 30 which accommodatesguide pin 27 and link pin 22. The stroke of the relief disc 19 isdetermined by the distance between the blind end of slot 30 and guidepin 27, which engages the blind end of slot 30 as will be describedhereinafter, FIGS. 2 and 3.

The operation of our three lever valve with relief port is as follows.In a closed position, the valve disc 12 rests on the valve seat 13 andthe relief disc 19 rests on the relief port seat 32, FIG. 4. As thevalve operator 14 rotates the shaft 33, the central lever 16, which iskeyed thereto, rotates to move the relief disc 19 off of the relief portseat 32, thereby permitting the pressure to equalize across the valvedisc 12. The relief disc moves freely until the blind end of slot 30engages guide pins 27 at which time the entire valve disc 12 parallelmoves off of the valve seat 13 for a short distance, FIG. 5. The endlinks 17 then act as control arms to rotate the entire disc 12 90 to anopen position, FIG. 6. The disc rotation is stopped at 90 by means ofastop 36 extending downwardly into the opening formed by the valve body11, FIGS. 4-6.

Another embodiment is illustrated in FIGS. 7-11. The valve body 40contains a central opening therethrough which is shouldered to formvalve seat 42. A valve disc 41 cooperates with the valve seat 42 as inthe earlier embodiment. Valve disc 41 is dome-shaped, but it could alsobe flat as in the earlier embodiment. A valve operator (not shown)drives shaft 43 which connects to central lever 44. Central lever 44 ispivotally mounted to a closure means to be described hereinafter. Endlinks 45 connect to the valve body 40 through pins 47 and link mounts46.

The valve disc 41 includes a relief port 48 positioned along thelongitudinal center line of the valve body 40. Relief port 48 isperimetrically defined by shoulder element 58 which also forms reliefport seat 57. A tripartite spider element 51 connects to shoulderelement 58, is disposed within the relief port 48, and includes acentral opening 52. A tripartite yoke 50 also is mounted to the shoulderelement 58 and includes a central yoke opening 53 aligned with andspaced from the spider opening 52.

The-closure means comprises a relief disc 49 having a rearward leg 54which extends through the yoke opening 53 and pivotally mounts to thecentral lever 44. Relief disc 49 also includes a forwardly extending legwhich extends through the spider opening 52 and is guided thereby as therelief disc 49 is moved in and out of engagement with the relief portseat 57.

The embodiment of FIGS. 7-11 operates as follows. As the central lever44 is initially rotated along with shaft 43, the relief disc 49 is movedout of engagement with the relief port seat 57 thereby permittingpressure equalization across the valve disc 41. The rearward surface ofrelief disc 49 then engages the central portion of yoke 50 which definesthe yoke opening 53 and since the yoke 50 is secured to the valve disc41 through shoulder 58, the entire valve disc 41 parallel moves off ofvalve seat 42. End links 45 connect to the valve disc 41 throughstanchions 56 and act to control the movement so as to cause the 90rotation of the valve disc 41 after the valve disc 41 has been parallelmoved off of the valve seat 42.

A still further embodiment is illustrated in FIGS. 12-14. Valve body 60includes a central opening defined by valve seat 62 which cooperateswith disc 61. Central lever 64 is mounted to a connecting link 66 whichin turn connects with the operator driven shaft 63. Central lever 64includes a notched section 71 which engages the shaft housing 72 duringoperation to create the necessary movement.

A relief port 67 extends through the disc 61 along the longitudinalcenter line of the valve body 60. Also mounted to the valve disc 61 is aslide track 69 which is in line with the relief port 67. The relief disc68 is pivotally mounted to the central lever 64 and is positioned withinthe slide track 69 to move therealong.

As the shaft 63 begins to turn, the connecting link 66 and central lever64 also rotate causing the relief disc 68 to move along the slide track69 and out of mating engagement with the relief port 67, thereby openingrelief port to equalize the pressure on either side of the valve disc61. As the central lever continues to rotate, the notched section 71engages the shaft housing 72 so that continued moement of the shaft 63causes the parallel movement of the valve disc 61 off of the valve seat62. The end links 65, which are pivotally connected to the valve disc 61through stanchion 70, causes the valve disc to thereafter rotate through90 to an open position as in the earlier embodiments.

It is not necessary that the relief port be along the longitudinalcenter line of the valve body as illustrated in FIG. 15 by relief port75 which is offset from the longitudinal center line of the valve bodyof the arrangement shown by FIGS. 12-14.

We claim:

1. A valve comprising:

A. a valve body having a cylindrical opening therethrough; I

B. a valve seat positioned about the opening; 7

C. a valve disc positioned within the opening for mating engagement withthe valve seat, said valve disc having a relief port therethrough;

D. two links and a motor driven central lever pivotably mounted so as toparallel move the valve disc away from the valve seat in a firstmovement and then rotate the disc through to a fully open position; and

E. a closure member having a blind slot and pivotably mounted to thecentral lever to close off the relief port, a stanchion rigidlyconnected to the valve disc and pivotably mounted to at least one of thelinks, at least two guide pins extending from the stanchion in operableengagement with the slot whereby the member moves independent of thedisc along the guide pins until a terminal end of the blind slot engagesa guide pin thereby initiating the first movement of the disc.

2. The closure member of claim] comprising a disc and two parallel andspaced uprights connected thereto, each upright including a blind slot.

1. A valve comprising: A. a valve body having a cylindrical openingtherEthrough; B. a valve seat positioned about the opening; C. a valvedisc positioned within the opening for mating engagement with the valveseat, said valve disc having a relief port therethrough; D. two linksand a motor driven central lever pivotably mounted so as to parallelmove the valve disc away from the valve seat in a first movement andthen rotate the disc through 90* to a fully open position; and E. aclosure member having a blind slot and pivotably mounted to the centrallever to close off the relief port, a stanchion rigidly connected to thevalve disc and pivotably mounted to at least one of the links, at leasttwo guide pins extending from the stanchion in operable engagement withthe slot whereby the member moves independent of the disc along theguide pins until a terminal end of the blind slot engages a guide pinthereby initiating the first movement of the disc.
 2. The closure memberof claim 1 comprising a disc and two parallel and spaced uprightsconnected thereto, each upright including a blind slot.